


Smile

by KibaSin



Series: Past Time [50]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, Naruto
Genre: Emotionally Repressed, F/M, Light-Hearted, One Shot, Smile
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-29
Updated: 2013-11-29
Packaged: 2018-01-03 00:17:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1063407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KibaSin/pseuds/KibaSin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Though he is beginning to break out of his shell, Naruto feels that Sai could use a little help when it comes to his emotions. So, he goes out to find someone to help him, but… perhaps Sai doesn't need his help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smile

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any material belonging to the respective owners of _Inuyasha_ or _Naruto._

* * *

His eyebrow twitched like crazy, feeling his teammate hit him in the back again, much harder than he expected to him to. Then, frowning, he turned his attention to the boy sitting at his side, and said, "You're still not doing it right!"

He blinked lightly, his face blank. "But my book said…"

Naruto growled, "Forget the dang book for the moment! We don't care about the book at this moment, got it?"

"I thought we were supposed to forget about it," Sai pointed out.

"Agh!" Naruto allowed his head to drop and shook it from side to side. Ever since Sai had given them his first real, though awkward, smile, he'd been trying everything in his power to help him make the final step to understanding his emotions. He knew that Sai had them, he just didn't quite know it yet, but he doubted that he was truly the right person to help him. He'd ask Sakura, but she was still angry from the last time Sai slipped and started calling her 'hag' again, though he had a funny feeling it wasn't an accident. "You have to do it more like this," he patted Sai on the back in a comforting way, gently, hoping the other shinobi would be able to understand.

Thankfully, after he felt the correct, or somewhat correct amount of strength he was supposed to use, Naruto wasn't rewarded with another face-planting hit to his shoulder blade. It was softer—not as much as he would have hoped, it still kind of stung, but enough that he was positive Sai was getting it. In no time he'd be able to go out and make true friends, though it was still kind of strange whenever he'd see people he thought would make good friends and asked him if he could ask them to be his friend. "Alright," Naruto sighed, "that was better."

Sai gave him that creepy, hollow, and emotionless smile.

Naruto almost shuddered. "You do remember what we said about smiling when you don't mean it, right?" he asked. It still kind of creped him out, especially the first time Sai had picked up that stupid book and found that smiling at people make them feel better around you—or at least  _seeming_  nice to them. That emotionless smile was just creepy, but he was getting there slowly, even though he still reverted back to using it once in a while, only giving out rare, real, awkward smiles at other times.

Sai nodded, his smile disappearing. "Yes."

"Good," Naruto said. "Don't smile like that again. Remember, people can tell if you mean it or not, and they normally don't trust you if you don't." Turning his head, he brought his hand up, and began to think. "What haven't we covered today?"

Sai blinked, still not used to how often the blonde changed emotions. How was it that he had so many emotions inside of him, yet he could never stay on one for long? The blonde confused him, but he was starting to understand.

"Oh, I know," Naruto finally snapped his fingers. "You've got to stop calling Sakura a hag."

"But she is," Sai replied.

Well, that confirmed it; Sai had fallen back into his habit of calling Sakura that dreadful nickname on purpose. Sighing, Naruto knew that in some weird way that was probably going end up biting  _him_  in the butt. He wasn't sure how, but since Sakura knew he'd been spending time with their new teammate, she was probably going to think he'd been encouraging Sai to call her that. Sometimes, he just didn't get his female teammate at all—scratch that, most of the time, and he could bet that Sai was just as clueless.

"No, really," Naruto complained. "You have to stop calling her that. Call her something that describes her hair, or her clothing, but not 'hag'."

Sai tilted his head, and asked, "Ugly?" He watched as Naruto shook his head. "Terrible?" Again head shake. "Bad?" No again. "Gruesome?" He saw that his teammate was twitching like wild, his head shaking back and forth so fast that his headband loosened and fell onto his nose. The other shinobi quickly fixed the problem, but scowled at him in such a way that he knew he was wrong, but did not know what he was doing incorrectly. After all, all of those things, in his eyes, described his female teammate perfectly—not only that, but she did not deserve his effort.

"I give up," Naruto sighed mostly to himself. "We'll have to work on that some other time."

"Those things do describe her, though," Sai pointed out.

Naruto bristled a bit, hearing those words come out from his teammate's mouth about his crush. However, he knew that Sai was not the best at emotions, and he knew that he really could not accuse him of being wrong because of it. "Forget it," he muttered. "Just forget it. For now we'll try to do something that you might understand."

Sai watched as his blonde teammate set his chin onto his hand and thought for a few seconds. Then, he was cast a small glance, and then another, before finally the blonde straightened and stared at him with a large frown. In truth he was not sure if it was normal behavior from people who showed so much emotion, or simply something that was wrong with Naruto, but he watched and wondered if he should do the same thing in response. However, he was not given the chance when the blonde finally sighed, and began to speak.

"All right, Sai," Naruto said. "This is how this is going to work! I'm going to go find someone to help you better than I can and you're going to go find something to do while I find this person!"

"What is the reason behind such a person?" Sai asked. He also wondered for a moment if Naruto would find a person worth his time or someone else that looked horrible in his eyes. In the first case he may listen, but in the second he would simply tell the blonde to forget his plans.

"You're getting it," Naruto smiled, "but I think I know someone who might be able to help you more than I can!"

Sai shrugged, "Very well." Knowing his teammate, he would choose one of the females that he knew, and Sai did not care for. If Naruto decided to try Sakura, he would simply walk away, because he refused to stay in her presence more than necessary—the same with her  _rival_ , Ino. Perhaps, though, if he decided to try someone else, even if it was still someone he might consider useless, he may give it a small try—perhaps a minute would please his teammate?

"Alright!" Naruto jumped up, smiling brightly. "I'll be back later. Just make sure to stay in plain sight, that way I won't have to use my awesome shinobi skills to track you down!" After he said those words he shot off, a small trail of dirt trailing behind him as he traveled forth. Determination shot through his veins, delighted with this new quest to find another, better teacher for his friend. After all, he was positive that one of the girls he knew would be willing to help, and any of them could explain emotions better to Sai than he could—he could feel it in his blood.

Sai blinked, watching him rush away. For a moment he stayed there, wondering how long it would take the blonde to get this person he knew, but then decided that he would have better things to do. In fact, he might be able to get one of the members of Root to explain to him why Naruto's emotions constantly moved and changed. Perhaps one of them would be able to tell him something, shed a little light on the subject, but as he thought more on the subject, he doubted any of them could. Naruto wished to help him because of the way he acted within Root and how he acted once Danzo placed him onto Team Seven, so it was obvious Root was the cause of Naruto's wish.

Deciding that Root would not be the best at this moment, probably even getting Naruto to try and help him more—which, he truly did not think he needed, but it was  _fun_  to make new friends. The blonde was helping him do that, and obviously believed that Root was driving him down. So, Sai gave a small blank look toward the sky, before moving forward toward the village. After all, Naruto insisted that they take their lessons outside the village because of the last incident between him and the hag.

* * *

He turned his head, noticing her because of the bright smile that was on her face as she talked rapidly with the woman at her side. His eyes felt drawn to that natural smile, feeling strange for a small moment, as his own lips twitched slightly in response. Not understanding his reaction to the civilian—or, she  _appeared_  to be a civilian, he knew he could very well be wrong—Sai moved a bit closer in order to listen to the words leaving her lips. That smile drew his eyes to them, wondering how in the world she could look so much different from the kunoichi he had been around by simply wearing such a pretty tilt of the lips.

He blinked a few times, wondering when such a word had popped into his head. Pretty certainly was not what he thought of that face—no, mesmerizing, or beautiful described it so much better. Then, he blinked again, wondering why in the world she was the only female to bring out such words within his head, for no kunoichi had ever been able to draw them to the surface.

"Oh, you should have seen him!" she laughed, her voice like tiny tinkling bells to his ears. "It was so funny. One moment he was standing there, and the next he had fallen over because Miroku accidentally bumped him from behind. Then, even though he's supposed to have such a good sense of his surroundings—being a shinobi and all," she rolled her eyes, "—he still blamed Miroku and went after him, only to end up tripping over a rock that he didn't see."

The other woman laughed, "That does sound like my Inuyasha."

"Yeah, though you really should do something about the language that comes from his mouth, Kikyo," she smiled a little more. "I think that Souta is beginning to copy him a little too much, since my mother caught him cursing and throwing kunai like Inuyasha does whenever he can't seem to hit the targets."

Sai watched silently, wondering for a moment if perhaps she was a kunoichi. She appeared to be his age, perhaps a bit younger, but she was not carrying any weapons. He knew, though, that that could easily be explained because they were simply hidden away on his opponent's body, or because she was off duty for the day. That smile she wore, though, caused him to step forward a bit more, before his eyes were drawn down to the painting that she was carrying in her arms. It was a picture of nin-dogs surrounding a tall man that appeared to be an ANBU with long silver hair, who, if he remembered correctly, went by the name Sesshoumaru, and had his mask hanging from his hand.

"I'll make sure to talk to him about that," Kikyo sighed. "Don't worry, Kagome, I'm sure that I can get him to cut back a little. After all, we don't want your adorable little brother to end up with such a crude mouth. Even if it does give Inuyasha a bit of charm."

The smiling girl now identified as Kagome nodded her head a bit, "I guess you're right. He just wouldn't be Inuyasha without his mouth, right?"

"Right," Kikyo smiled softly. That smile, however, was not nearly as natural or as beautiful as the one that graced Kagome's face for as long as Sai stood there, his head tilting slightly to the side.

Subconsciously he took another step forward, catching the attention of the two women. Sai blinked when the youngest turned swiftly to meet him, obviously having known he was there, but still smiling as if there was no reason for him to ever do her harm. His own lips twitched again in response, but did not rise completely, as he watched her take him in. Then, when she met his eye again, he heard Kikyo give a soft, elegant laugh that seemed to hold a secret truth.

"Hello," Kagome greeted him. "Is there something you needed?"

The automatic response in his head to ask her to be his friend began to ring again and again in his head. However, he felt that it was more than simply asking her; he wanted her to be his friend because she wished to be. But, as he looked into her blue eyes, feeling like he was swimming in them for a single moment, he felt like his tongue was caught in his throat. Unsure of himself, he raised his hand, forgetting at that moment that he was holding a small sketchpad in order to get rid of stray images that came to mind.

Her eyes brightened, "Oh, that's so pretty!"

Kikyo looked at the picture, noticing the way the snarling tiger was hunched over as if ready to pounce, and wondered how in the world her companion could consider it  _pretty_  of all things. Excellent work, and beautiful strokes of an ink brush, but certainly not pretty simply because of the animal pictured. "I believe you're stretching the truth a bit, Kagome," she muttered humorously.

"Oh, shut up, Kikyo!" Kagome hissed. "Just because you don't have an artistic bone in your body—"

"Neither do you," Kikyo pointed out.

Kagome blushed a bit, but continued, "—doesn't mean you have to dump on everyone elses work." She held up the painting in her hand and swung it in Kikyo's face, "You couldn't even appreciate this piece after Sango gave it to me! Look at it, Kikyo, it's a masterpiece!"

"You only like it because it's got Sesshoumaru in it and you used to have a crush on him," Kikyo teased.

"What?" Kagome stuttered. "I did not!"

"Denial is the first stage of acceptance, Kagome," Kikyo laughed. "But, I have to admit that that piece is rather good considering Sango's other pieces of work. She's got more of a warriors hands than an artists, but I guess that she finally got something that she's good at drawing."

"But, her painting of Kirara was very good, too," Kagome muttered. She saw Kikyo nod in reply, and then turned her head back to the young man staring at them. Blushing lightly, but bringing her smile back to her face, she asked him if she could look through his work. And, when he stiffly gave her the sketchpad, she began to glance through them as Kikyo took the painting out of her hands. He was very good, it was clear that he worked very hard on them.

Sai watched her, noticing that her smile became brighter and dimmed a bit as she went through each piece of his work. Most were old, simply things that he did not wish to see in his head anymore, but he felt warm whenever she gazed down at one of his pieces with such a beautiful look. He had never named them, but the image he was getting in his head at the moment, he was positive that once he drew it, it would be given a name, and it would find itself into her hands. He did not know why, but he wanted her to have the image he was thinking of on paper, and watch to see whether she smiled brightly or sadly at it.

"You're very talented," Kikyo mentioned over Kagome's shoulder.

"Yes," Kagome nodded. She looked up and caught his eye once more, noticing that he appeared to be a bit blank in the face, but his eyes were curious toward her. "Oh," she laughed, "I forgot to ask for your name. My name's Kagome; Higurashi Kagome."

Finding his voice, he replied, "Sai."

Kikyo's eyes sharpened, "You're a shinobi, aren't you?"

He looked at her briefly, and then turned his eyes back to Kagome's face. "Yes," he nodded. He decided that he did not like Kikyo that much, not because of how she acted, but simply because of that look she had given him. She seemed to be judging him because of how close her friend was getting to him, and he was slightly surprised that he hadn't noticed her move a bit closer.

Kagome pressed the pad back into his hands, and said, "It's nice to meet you, Sai. I hope that in the future we can be friends."

"I would like that," escaped his lips without his notice. His eyes moved back to her brightening eyes, noticing the way the light within them grew until they appeared to be flooding with happiness. He liked that look; he hoped that it never left her eye as long as he stood in front of her—but, as his eyes moved lower, he found he liked her smile even better.

"Great," Kagome said. She smiled at him, and noticed that his lips tilted upward just slightly. She could tell that he was a shinobi, it was obvious from the way he was dressed, but that did not matter to her. She was more concerned with the fact that he only slightly tilted his lips, giving her a small, awkward smile as if he did not know how to show the look in return. It did not bother her, though, because she could smile for him, and maybe someday she could teach him to smile at her in return, since she had a feeling that he had just become a permanent piece of her life.

And, if she remembered correctly, her feelings were usually right.

_-Fin_


End file.
